Math Circles for Elementary School Students – Book Review
Why are there so few math circles, particularly for younger children? One of the reasons is the belief that very young kids are simply not ready for complex math. Another reason is that finding deep and engaging math activities, adapted for this younger audience, is itself a challenge. Natasha Rozhkovskaya’s new book, Math Circles for Elementary School Students, helps deal with both these difficulties.
The book is based on Natasha’s experience leading a highly popular program for elementary school students at the Berkeley Math Circle. In the true “if you build it, they will come” fashion, the Circle attracted so many youngsters, that it had to be split into several smaller sections. What was originally thought of as a one-semester pilot program is currently in its 3rd year. Its young students return semester after semester to continue learning about such complex modern math ideas as symmetry, fractals, probability theory, logic, knot theory.
Natasha’s book addresses the issue of “too young for this kind of math” early on, in the first few pages. The rest of the book is a delightful collection of activities that deals with the activities challenge – what can young children do during the circle. There are detailed plans and activity descriptions for 28 math circle meetings (15 from the original BMC and 13 from a program Natasha started at the Kansas State University). There’s also something just as valuable as the lesson plans included with the original 15 lessons – Natasha’s reflections and notes on how her students worked through the activities.
In the video, I give some more details about the book and answer a few of Maria’s questions. I highly recommend it, particularly for those math circle leaders who are just starting out or who are starting to work with younger students. You can purchase this book from American Mathematical Society.
Posted in Grow
Family math: baby trinomials, can’t get 20 bagels, symmetry yoga aftermath
This is a collection of math sparks friends of Natural Math send us. Have something little (or big) to share? Email your videos, pictures, or text to maria@naturalmath.com
Sheryl Morris shares a a photo of playtime with a body-size Montessori Trinomial Cube from her colleague Martine Hestnes Healy from Cork, Ireland. Yay for baby algebra!
Dragan Tminic and Dor Abarahamson share a found picture. I used their comments for the caption:
Jennifer Rukhra writes:
After a round of symmetry yoga, my boys enthusiastically jumped into making these symmetrical paper cutouts. In the process, I said, “Isn’t math awesome?” And my oldest exclaimed, “This is math?!?” Find his Darth Vader mask in the attached photo.
We have four chapters of symmetry games in the Moebius Noodles book, including movement games and paper cutouts. Symmetry Yoga is Jennifer’s own invention.
Posted in Grow
Math Scavenger Hunt Nov 8, Enlightening Symbols, Make Thinky the Dragon: Newsletter November 4
Subscribe and read archives
Pinterest | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
Hello from Natural Math! Send us your questions, comments, and stories of math adventures at moby@moebiusnoodles.com
In this newsletter:
- Join Math Scavenger Hunt on Saturday November 8
- Enlightening Symbols: learn about history and culture in an online Math Future event with the author Joseph Mazur on Wednesday November 5
- Make it: Thinky the Dragon optical illusion
Join us for a mathematical scavenger hunt through art and nature
If you live near Cary, NC, join us on Saturday November 8, from 10 AM to noon as we explore the many dimensions of art and nature. This is a great opportunity to connect math to the world around you. We suggest you RSVP for this event by emailing cva@caryvisualart.org
If you don’t live near Cary, but would love to help us organize a math scavenger hunt in your area, drop us a line!
Is it for adults only?
Not at all! Our scavenger hunts are open to all ages. No prior knowledge of specific math concepts is required.
How much does it cost?
The event is free. It is a part of the Year of Sculpture initiative by the Cary Visual Art council.
What will it be like?
Check out this short video from one of our previous Math Treks. (That’s what we call our math scavenger hunts.)
For this Trek, meet us on the green in front of the Cary Arts Center to pick up your Math Trek card. It will have all the clues you need to successfully complete the Trek. Walk around Downtown Cary, enjoy this year’s sculptures, notice beautiful math, and take pictures of your finds. Come back to the green and try our hands-on activities for all ages.
Will I be able to complete the challenges if I am not a math whiz?
Absolutely! There are many answers to each clue and no prior knowledge of math is required. Open-mindedness, creativity, and curiosity rule the day! Check out a few sample clues from this Trek:
Art by Mary Jo Hoffman, Eric Troffkin, and Tom Friedman.
Will there be prizes?
Complete the challenges, e-mail us your photos, and be entered into a drawing to win a copy of our book, Moebius Noodles: Adventurous Math for the Playground Crowd.
How can I volunteer for this event?
We are so happy you’ve asked! You can volunteer at our math craft table or help us lead the tours. Email us at moby@moebiusnoodles.com
Learn about the history of math symbols at our upcoming Math Future online talk with the author Joseph Mazur
Hardly any math symbols were used before the sixteenth century. What did mathematicians rely on for their work before then? And how did mathematical notations evolve into what we know of today? Enlightening Symbols explains the fascinating history behind the development of our current mathematical notation system, shows how symbols were used initially, how one symbol replaced another over time, and how written math was conveyed before and after symbols became widely adopted.
On Wednesday, November 5 at 12pm EST, join us for the open, free online event in the Math Future series. Dr. Joseph Mazur will talk about his new book, Enlightening Symbols. Come and listen to a short presentation, chat with like-minded people in the audience, and ask Joseph questions.
https://naturalmath.com/math-future-event-registration/
Math Maker Corner
As soon as we saw this Thinky the Dragon video, we wanted to make one (or more) of these cuties ourselves. And you can too, by downloading and printing a free template with instructions from ThinkFun. How is this “hollow face” optical illusion mathematical? Watch this video to find out!
Sharing
You are welcome to share this newsletter online or in print.
Talk to you soon! Dr. Maria Droujkova and Yelena McManaman
Posted in Newsletter
More math circles, multiplication, Math Future: Newsletter October 16
Subscribe and read archives
Pinterest | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
Hi, I am Moby and I bring you the news about Natural Math. Send me your questions, comments, and stories of math adventures at moby@moebiusnoodles.com
In this newsletter:
- More math circles for more kids!
- Easy and cute multiplication puzzles
- Live open Math Future event: Russian School of Mathematics (US Northeast and online enrichment)
Watch out for a BIG announcement tomorrow!
We’ve been very busy creating something really big and exciting! What is it? It is something many of you asked for over and over – an online course unlike anything we’ve offered before. Usually when you sign up for our courses, you receive plenty of ideas for math games and activities. In this course, you will learn how to create your own activities and how to lead your own math circles (and you will still get lots of ideas for math activities).
We wanted to make sure that everyone who enrolls in this course gets individual attention and support from us, so we limited the 8-week pilot program to 20 participants. We will send a separate e-mail with all the details of the course (including an early-bird registration offer) at 10am EST on Friday, October 17th. Don’t miss it!
Who leads math circles and why?
Anna Ignatov attended a math circle as a child, and then, as a mom, organized two circles for her two daughters and their friends. Since 14, Anna’s daughter Ida has been organizing math circles of her own: the third generation of circles, and counting! Why do they continue this tradition?
As Ida told us:
In school, we are taught that math is something boring, that we have to learn for some strange reason: you will need it in the future. Yeah, sure… It is nice to show the kids the beauty of math before they will learn once and forever that math is boring.
Read the entire interview with Anna and Ida in our 1001 Circles series and try a combinatorics game Anna and Ida shared with us.
Play this cute and easy multiplication puzzle with your kids
The new puzzle game Bojagi by David Radcliffe, which we review on the blog, is all about drawing areas. The rules are easy to learn, but Bojagi puzzles themselves are can be tricky to solve. Draw a rectangle around each number by clicking and dragging with a mouse. Each rectangle should contain exactly one number, and the area of the rectangle should be the same as the number it has. Rectangles must not overlap. That’s it!
Playful and gentle, this puzzle will help your kids see multiplication as more than just repeated addition. Take turns making puzzles for each other. Bojagi interface makes drawing designs, using algebraic formulas, or just playing with shapes easy. An online game, like Bojagi, that you and your child can play together is a great example of a new development in gaming called “intergenerational game design”. It is also one of the guiding principles we use in designing all Natural Math activities.
Speaking of multiplication games, come November we will once again be offering our most popular course, Natural Math Multiplication. We will announce the exact dates and registration details in our next e-mail.
Live open Math Future event: Russian School of Mathematics
On Wednesday, October 22 at 1 PM Eastern Inessa Rifkin, Irina Khavinson, and Nina Dubinsky will talk about the Russian School of Mathematics, one of the largest enrichment programs in the Northeastern US. Come and listen to a short presentation, chat with like-minded people from all over the world, and pose questions for the founders of RSM.
Register to join the event and get notified when we post the recording.
Math Future is an international network of people who care about mathematics education: researchers, developers, teachers, parents, and students. Since 2009, it has organized more than a hundred live online events with leaders of amazing projects.
Sharing
You are welcome to share this newsletter online or in print.
Talk to you soon! Moby Snoodles, aka Dr. Maria Droujkova
Posted in Newsletter
